Promise is an alternative rock song by Eve 6 composed by Max Collins, Jon Siebels, and Tony Fagenson. It was released as a single in 2000 as a single, and on 2000-07-25 as track 2 on the album Horrorscope. The single's B-sides included the previous album's songs Inside Out and Tongue Tied, as well as a cover of the TLC song, Waterfalls. There were also two promotional CDs released to radio stations. Each contained the album version and a censored version, and a radio callout hook, but one also featured an alternate mix.

Despite the fact that "I promise not to try not to fuck with your mind" grammatically means he promises to fuck with your mind, the song's topic is clearly about being honest in a relationship. Most of the lyrics to the song don't make very much sense, but they're pregnant with play-on-words which are a hallmark of Eve 6 songs. And, even without coherent lyrics, the high energy sound and structure of the song is amazing, making it one of my favorites by the group, and one of my favorites songs in general. I especially love playing this song at high volume and speeding down the expressway in the summer. My favorite line is "Why you gotta keep the fan on high when it's cold outside / Just want to let you know that I'm still a fan, get it?" Nice dad joke!

The music video has a lot of energy and makes interesting use of a wide-angle camera lens. However, young people quitting awful jobs has nothing to do with the actual theme of the song.

Contents

Gallery

The cover of the promotional release.

Lyrics

Sleeping through the evening singing dreams inside my head
I'm heading out I've got some ins who say they care and they just might
I run away with you if things don't go as planned
Planning big could be a gamble I've already rolled the dice
I spit and stutter stuff and clutter worries in my worried corner
Maladjusted just untrusted rusted sometimes brilliant busted thoughts
Think I'll stay for a while
I'm intrigued and I'm
red as a newborn white as a corpse
I promise not to try not to fuck with your mind
Promise not to mind if you go your way and I go mine
Promise not to lie if I'm looking you straight in the eye
Promise not to try not to let you down
I am elated I am all smiles and dated in my man bites dog town with a Spanish name
I am all bone
I am two tone
red as a newborn white as a corpse
I promise not to try not to fuck with your mind
Promise not to mind if you go your way and I go mine
Promise not to lie if I'm looking you straight in the eye
Promise not to try not to let you down
Why you gotta keep the fan on high when it's cold outside
Just want to let you know that I'm still a fan, get it?
Everybody wants charm and a smile and a promise
I promise not to try
I promise not to try not to fuck with your mind
Promise not to mind if you go your way and I go mine
Promise not to lie if I'm looking you straight in the eye
I promise not to try not to not to not to leave
(promise not to try)
Not to leave
(promise not to try)
Not to not to leave-yeah
(promise not to try)
I won't leave
I won't leave

Prior to recording the song, Eve 6 played the song live with slightly different lyrics.